John Grefe stood out not only because he was one of the rare untitled players to win the US Championship but also because of his appearance. Apart from his long flowing locks, he would usually play with a round badge on his chest, a badge showing the picture of Guru Maharaj Ji, the spiritual teacher who created the Divine Light Mission, a religious movement which began in India and established a branch in Denver in 1971.

As in the US, sponsorship for chess in Australia is notoriously hard to secure, but in the southern hemisphere summer of 1974/75 US Champion John Grefe toured Australia sponsored – remarkably – by the Divine Light Mission.

The tour came about because Garry Koshnitsky, then President of the Australian Chess Federation, had a son who was, like John Grefe, a follower of the guru. The present writer was at that time the general secretary of the DL mission in Australia, and Garry proposed that the federation would pay for John’s air travel from the US if my organisation would undertake to cover all his accommodation and travel within Australia.

As a chess tragic myself (a fact which Garry had shrewdly earlier ascertained by inviting me to play blitz with him) I leapt at the offer. It wasn’t entirely selfish: a tour by a well-known chess master allowed me to publicise the mental advantages of the meditation taught by my guru.

John Grefe in those days was an impressive figure. With his long hair and calm, centred demeanour he fitted perfectly into our ashrams, and his good looks stirred the hearts of not a few of the ‘house mothers’ designated to look after him. He was an excellent ambassador for the guru, patiently answering journalists’ questions about meditation and chess that were often uninformed on both topics, and occasionally hostile. The discipline of the ashrams worked well for John too, helping him develop his spiritual life free of any distractions – apart from blitz games with me.

For two months John travelled round the eastern capital cities, and I put off all my other work to accompany him. He gave half a dozen simultaneous exhibitions, in Melbourne losing to a 14-year-old who had not long before started out in tournament chess.
Melbourne 1975

and Black won on move 33. 13.Nd5!? would have kept the position messy.

While in Australia Grefe played in two of Australia's biggest tournaments. He won the first, a tournament in Queensland's capital of Brisbane, an event running through the New Year period of 1974/5 which was originally billed as the Australian Open but which had the title stripped as a result of a dispute between the organiser and the Australian Chess Federation.

Few of Grefe's games from the Brisbane Open have been preserved but here is a typical attacking effort from one of the early rounds.
Brisbane Open 1974/5
White: J.Grefe
Black: J.Harris
Opening: Sicilian Defence
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Be2 0-0 8.f4 d6 9.Nb3 a6?!

The famous Alekhine-Botvinnik game from 1936 continued 9...Be6 10.g4 d5 with crazy complications, but now White's attack is much harder to meet.10.g4! e5?!
A move which was once played by Anand in a rapid game. (He lost.) Apart from that recommendation, only 10...b5 makes sense.11.g5 Ne8 12.h4!

After Brisbane, the top local and Asian players who had competed in Brisbane headed to Melbourne for the Zonal tournament, while Grefe began his trip down the east coast, eventually arriving in Adelaide, Koshnitsky’s home town, where the 'real' Australian Open was to take place. Koshnitsky enjoyed John’s unique chess and meditation tour too, and for this final event invited Filipino Grandmaster Eugenio Torre, who had just won the Melbourne South-East Asian Zonal.

After beating top seed Torre in the seventh round of the Australian Open Grefe was well in the race for first place but had to be satisfied with third after a penultimate round loss to untitled local player Srbo Zaric. Australian Olympian Max Fuller played the tournament of his life and eclipsed the foreign masters.
Adelaide AUS Open 1975
White: J.Grefe
Black: E.Torre
Opening: Pirc Defence
Notes by John Grefe from the tournament book

The kind of game in which it is difficult to pinpoint the errors of the losing side.1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nf3
This line tends to lead the struggle along positional lines. Other popular choices here are 4.f3 and 4.f4.
4...Bg7 5.Be2 0–0 6.0–0

Both players have strong and weak points in their positions, but the better coordination of White's pieces and the fact that Black's weaknesses are more vulnerable add up to a big plus for White. During the game I was sure White stood better, but I didn't realize how great his superiority was, as Black had made no obvious errors.
20...Bc8
After this Black's position quickly becomes hopeless, but alternatives seem no better, e.g. 20...f6 21.e6 Rd6 22.Bf3 Bxe6 23.Nxe6 Rxe6

Garry Koshnitsky created the most friendly and light-hearted social scene around the serious business of chess, with house parties, beach excursions and his own genial presence. Grefe and Torre were frequent blitz opponents at these parties and I seem to recall that John won the majority of their games.

John Grefe’s ‘Guru Tour’ was a great success and I did not receive the reprimand for trivialising meditation that I half expected from mission headquarters. For myself, I derived great personal pleasure from John’s friendship during those summer months, and a few years later, when I began to play tournament chess, I discovered that playing hundreds of (one-sided) blitz games with an international master had raised my game to state championship level.

Vale, John Grefe, brilliant player and gentle soul.

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David Lovejoy is the founder editor of the Byron Shire Echo and the author of Between Dark and Dark and Moral Victories - the Story of Savielly Tartakower.